Search This Blog

Learn (How) to Say No from Your Clients

What happened the last time you asked to have your rates increased or get a rush surcharge to apply or a short deadline to be moved?

In some cases the request was probably granted, but in the majority of them it was probably declined or ignored. Ignoring is the easiest answer, and the party ignored typically picks up the hint and stops bringing up the subject without need for direct refusal. Let's look at the refusals instead.

I doub they were actually flat out refusals, direct and rude, except perhaps for a couple of cases out of a hundred. Rather, they were polite and attempted to rely on arguments.

Arguments can be valid or not, but in any case they attempt to support the refusal with something. Data or emotions or a promise or threat but still something. They are not necessarily enough to covince you, they often show that you can't convince the other party easily. In some cases you decide it's not worth it, and you don't pursue your own arguments further. In other cases they leave it up to you to tell no to the potential collaboration that has been brewing so far.

You probably haven't often heard that your rates are ridiculous or exortionate. Rather, the agency (or client, in some cases) can't afford or can't offer you more than than a fraction of your rate. Possibly with a mention of the economic cirsis or how bad the market is in general.

In some cases the answer steers you toward declining the deal (so they don't have to) or accepting it on their own proposed conditions, e.g. by sending you or requesting from you a document connected with subsequent stateges of recruitement, or reiterating the request for your confirmation of the job they are offering.

Sometimes there's some talk about what their standard policy is or what the other translators accept.

Guess what. You too can talk about your policy or about rates and other terms your other clients accept. You too can use words such as: 'unfortunately', 'sorry but', 'I wish I could', 'while I value our collaboration', 'while I understand/sympathise with your situation/concerns/position' and so on, and talk about the tough market realities (which are not permitting you to hand out discounts liberally, for example).

You can also say that a proposed rate isn't leaving you much in the way of profit and that you need to pay some bills and put some cash in the banks, or that it is not a sufficient reflection of the type and amount of work you'd need to do.

You too can end with, 'please confirm this order at (…).'

Just no raw emotion but always arguments and perhaps without turning down the whole deal, only the scope of their proposal you can't accept, while providing a fair counteroffer (which places the ball in their court).

Whether they are apologetic or adamant in their own no's, you can learn the execution from them.

Edit (27 March 2014): You're also more respectful when you give good reasons for turning down proposals, offers and suggestions, rather than handing down a flat no without explanation. Kindness and politeness open may doors. It's hard to communicate properly without respect and understanding. Your clients will respect you more if they learn that you are fair and reasonable, not whimsical or petty, which is crucial to your (personal and business) dependability, not just to your being well-liked or not.

Comments

There is a certain principle in the martial arts of turning one's opponents' aggressive power against them. Apparently this works in other realms aside from the physical too. And I see from what you are writing that I am not the only one to have had that thought :P

True that, sort of in an aikido way. In some cases you just step aside and the opponent crashes into the wall behind you. ;)

But what I had in mind here — apart from the obvious hint that if it's okay for them to deny you politely and with regrets but still deny you, then it's okay for you to deny them as well (equality/procedural justice) — is that clients and middlemen know how to say no, how to justify it, how to control the damage done by denying you. You can pick up what they know, and the lesson comes free of charge.

Essentially, one needs to sit back, realise that one's just been told no, relax, think yeah, I've just been denied, what is it that makes me not angry with him (other than my own composure), what makes me accept his refusal and not take it against him or take it against him less? What made me not walk out of the deal? Was it something in the way he said it? How can I use it to achieve similar results when I need to deny my own clients?

This actually ties somewhat into not actually saying no — basically coming up with fair offers (in our case e.g. a more relaxed price for a more relaxed deadline) until it's the other party who quits and has to say no to the deal.

... But not necessarily. I've seen some very powerful results achieved by people who've said all but 'no deal'. They just let you know — by all but spelling it out (or even doing just that) — that the negotiation will soon be coming to an end unless you do something. And the ball's in your court.

It works partly because they have rehearsed and you have not or, alternatively, because they don't care as much as you do that the negotiation will come to an end. Why they care less and you care more, again, may simply be due to the fact you weren't expecting it. Just like in that joke about the Englishman who pulls out the wrong tea bag out of the box, still likes that one tea, but it isn't what he'd been expecting. This is perhaps similar to that highschool/college dating situation in which a not so attractive person gains by pulling out unexpectedly (stick and carrot, pull and push aside, players know how to play it). There's not even necessarily a conscious game going on between you and your negotiating counterparty, it may be just some sort of spontaneous (inter)play. In those situations it helps to sit back, take a deep breath, look out the window for a while, break the rhythm to avoid getting railroaded into a suboptimal deal, answer more on your own terms and with decidedly more independence than being led on a string by someone who ambushed you.

Anyway, people who say no efficiently often equip with some serious weight of objective support (data, hard situation, common practice, customs, laws etc.) while putting the ball in your court. Putting the ball in your court is an essential part of getting the results. Particularly if you can't produce a good enough counterargument in time you look bad (unreasonable) for refusing despite the weight of their arguments. But those arguments may well be 1-2 words rather than a full paragraph, which complicates the perception just a bit.

Disclaimers and all that jazz

REPOSTING AND RIGHTS: Don't worry about copyrights and stuff when printing or sharing these posts for your own benefit or that of your friends. In fact, the point of them is to be read. You can also repost them whole if you think that will reach the audience better than linking to my blog here, or if you want to host a vigorous discussion on the subject among your commenters; it's all fine as long as you don't make a blog that's simply a copy of my blog. Feel free to translate the posts, too, or adapt them, just please mention the fact you did so on your own. Understand, however, that by reposting my posts in any way or form, including paper, you will not gain any sort of copyright or interest in my own copyright, let alone moral rights, other than limited protection of any significant value you actually add, where any such rights such as you may so acquire shall not restrict my own rights and freedom as the author or in any way impede the free, unpaid circulation of the material I created. Always credit me as the author.

NOT PROOFREAD OR EDITED: The posts are not always edited and proofread before posting. They are intended to represent the typical standard of blogs posts rather than printed works; I apologize for any inconvenience you may experience as a result. I simply prefer to write another post or five rather than either go back and reread old stuff or complete five rounds of editing before hitting the send button; this is more or less the point of having a blog. Still welcome to let me know if you find a typo or if anything's unclear, which may very well occasionally be the case due to the timing, such as late at night or in between urgent projects. Hence, before reposting any of this in a more serious setting than a blog or forum post, please drop me a line to give me the chance to apply some finishing touch or even ask me to write a proper article, which I'll be happy to do subject to time constraints.

NO ADVICE, NO CLIENT RELATIONSHIP: Nothing here consitutes legal, business, marketing, career or any other advice, at least not in the sense of establishing a lawyer-client or consultant-client relationship, not in the least because I didn't get a dime and because any implied contract is (hereby, herewith, etc.) expressly disclaimed. If what you find here is useful and informs your course of action, you still need to get proper legal advice appropriate to your jurisdiction and your unique factual situation, without exception. Likewise, consult such other advisors as are appropriate for proper business, marketing, career or other advice relevant to your situation. Whether or not you consult them, you agree to assume and do assume the responsibility and risk, with the consequence being, without limitation, that you can't sue me (and agree not to try) on the grounds of having relied on anything whatsoever on this blog.

NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIRD-PARTY SITES: Any links on this blog that don't expressly lead to other posts here should be presumed to lead to external sites that are outside my control. I am not responsible for the contents of such sites or their availability. Linking does not imply endorsement. By clicking on a link you expressly and enthusiastically declare for the benefit of any pesky government official anywhere that you did so out of the pure, unadulterated, spontaneous desire of your heart miraculously coupled with the informed and deliberate consent of your conscious, sovereign, unbroken will.

NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMENTS YOU READ: If you find something illegal, obscene, hateful, etc., in the comments, let me know and, if I agree with your assessment, I'll axe the comment. You are hereby warned that I don't control the comments otherwise, they are the product of their own authors' expression. If you don't accept the risk that you might see something objectionable, don't read the comments.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMENTS YOU POST: By posting a comment you agree to assume and do assume full and sole responsibility at law for posting whatever you post, even if I saw it and did not delete it, and even though you also agree that I may delete any comment at ultimately my sole discretion, with no liability to you, though I'll normally do so only if I find it to be spammy or more than just a little offensive. Further, you agree that if you subsequently decide to delete or modify your comment, you will need to do so on your own, and agree to do so on your own without involving me in the process. You agree not to post anything which is illegal, hateful, defamatory, spammy, in breach of a confidentiality obligation (or otherwise contains anything you are not free to disclose, including without limitation personal data) or infringes on anyone's legally protected rights. Advertising is forbidden.